Omar Barghouti
Omar Barghouti (born 1964) is a founding committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) who is currently studying for a masters degree in philosophy at Tel Aviv University. He was born in Qatar, grew up in Egypt and later moved to Ramallah (West Bank) as an adult.
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[edit] Education
Barghouti holds a Masters degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University. His academic publications include essays in "Controversies and Subjectivity" (John Benjamins, 2005) and "The New Intifada: Resisting Israel's Apartheid" (Verso Books, 2001).
Barghouti is currently studying for a masters degree in philosophy at Tel Aviv University, on which he has commented: "My studies at Tel Aviv University are a personal matter and I have no interest in commenting."[1] The university has announced it has no plans to expel him after a petition was lodged by students calling for his expulsion.[1]
PACBI released a statement branding the calls to expel Barghouti as "McCarthyist". In this statement, PACBI defended Barghouti by asserting that requiring Palestinians to boycott Israeli universities themselves as a prerequisite to endorsing the BDS call is "an absurd position, given the complete lack of alternatives available" to them and that it would effectively amount to requiring Palestinians to deny themselves education. PACBI's statement also adds that "Nelson Mandela studied law at the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, one of the most notorious apartheid institutes then. Similarly, leaders of the anti-colonial resistance movement in India and Egypt, among many other countries, received their education at British universities at the height of the colonial era."[2]
[edit] Career
Omar Barghouti is an independent Palestinian political and cultural analyst whose opinion columns have appeared in several publications. He is also a human rights activist involved in civil struggle to end oppression and conflict in Palestine. Barghouti is a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, PACBI. Barghouti favors BDS (Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions of the state of Israel) because "if you don't leash that mad dog, it will bite everyone".[3]
Barghouti has consistently spoken of Israel as an apartheid state, stating: "From now on, it will be acceptable to compare Israel's apartheid system to its South African predecessor. As a consequence, proposing practical measures to punish Israeli institutions for their role in the racist and colonial policies of their state will no longer be considered beyond the pale." Also: "Characterising Israel's legalised system of discrimination as apartheid – as was done by Tutu, Jimmy Carter and even a former Israeli attorney general – does not equate Israel with South Africa. No two oppressive regimes are identical. Rather, it asserts that Israel's bestowal of rights and privileges according to ethnic and religious criteria fits the UN-adopted definition of apartheid."[4] Barghouti advocates what he holds to be an ethical vision for a unitary, secular democratic state for "historic Palestine", present-day Israel and the Palestinian territories.[5]
Barghouti refers to Israeli practices using Nazi Germany rhetoric: "Many of the methods of collective and individual “punishment” meted out to Palestinian civilians at the hands of young, racist, often sadistic and ever impervious Israeli soldiers at the hundreds of checkpoints littering the occupied Palestinian territories are reminiscent of common Nazi practices against the Jews."[6]
Barghouti believes that "Israeli society is shifting very far to the right, with ethnic cleansing becoming a mainstream term that's used in academia, in the media, in parliament, in conferences."[7]
[edit] Criticisms
Barghouti accuses Palestinians who have engaged with Israelis in intellectual debates and artistic partnerships of being "guilty of moral blindness and political shortsightedness" and "clinically delusional or dangerously deceptive."[8] Samir El-Youssef states that "Barghouti’s 'true peace based on justice' is that Israel must be punished, brought down to its knees, before a Palestinian is allowed to greet an Israeli in the street".[8]
Dr. Joel Fishman, in reviewing Barghouti's 2010 book, says, regarding the land of Israel, that "Barghouti argues that the Palestinians have inalienable rights, while those of the Jews were acquired, even if they received international recognition."[9]
[edit] Publications
- Barghouti, Omar (2011). Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. Haymarket Books. ISBN 978-1608461141.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Academic boycotter to study in Tel Aviv
- ^ http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=992
- ^ Interview, at time marker 9:55
- ^ Omar Barghouti (12 August 2010). "Besieging Israel's siege". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/12/besieging-israel-siege-palestinian-boycott.
- ^ Platt, Edward (12 November 2009). "A state of collapse". New Statesman. http://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2009/11/israel-palestinian-state-obama. "For over 25 years, I've supported the unitary, secular, democratic state solution for historic Palestine, because I regard it as the most ethical solution to all involved. It reconciles the inalienable rights of the indigenous Palestinian Arabs with the acquired rights of Jewish Israelis."
- ^ The Pianist
- ^ Transcript of Interview
- ^ a b http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-debate_97/against_2934.jsp
- ^ Book Review for Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
[edit] External links
- PACBI
- Boycott of Haifa University and Bar-Ilan Universities
- The PIWP database has a profile and a listing of most of Barghouti's articles.
- A Debate on Divestment with Omar Barghouti and Rabbi Arthur Waskow - video by Democracy Now!
- Interview with Omar Barghouthi explaining the BDS movement - video and transcript by Democracy Now!
- www.bdsmovement.net
